It is often desirable to enclose fragile products, or items of merchandise, in a package which both provides protection for the products and is suitable for displaying the products in a manner attractive to the customer. The protection capability is especially important when the products are unwieldy as well as fragile. The display capability is important when the products are available in different colors or designs and when the customer's decision to purchase depends on seeing the products.
Packages for protecting fragile products during shipping and handling are widely known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 543,991, 1,249,184, 1,490,529, 2,517,767, 2,885,071, 3,051,345, 3,756,496, 4,754,916 and 5,575,385 disclose packages for separating or protecting various products.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,849,932 discloses apparatus, for starting plants from seeds, which uses a corrugated trough.
A package comprising a compartmented tubular member for containing and displaying small articles is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,924,823.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,711,819 discloses a compartment carton designed to receive and display dishes and utensils such as forks and spoons.
A package which provides for containing and displaying a product such as bacon is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,960,315.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,778 discloses a package with integrated partitioning for acceptance and display of longitudinal objects.
Each of the previously cited inventions serves a particular need. However, there remains a need for a simple and inexpensive package which can simultaneously protect and display fragile products, particularly products having slender, rod-like shapes. For example, sticks of incense are often several inches in length and less than one-eighth of an inch in diameter. Such incense sticks are quite brittle and easily broken by slight flexing. Also, such incense sticks are often color coded as to the fragrance they produce. Consequently, there is a need for a package which can provide separation and protection for individual sticks of incense and which can also simultaneously provide a view of the colors or styles of the individual sticks to a customer or user of the incense.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a simple and inexpensive package for separating and protecting fragile products while simultaneously permitting the products contained in the package to be viewed.